Moses clements



M. CLEMENTS.

Straw Cutter. NO- 18,887. Paterifed" Dec. 15, 1857.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFEIOE.

MOSES (ELEMENTS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS; WM. T. GLEMENTS ADMINISTRATOR OF SAID MOSES CLEMENTS, DEOEASED.

STRAW-CUTTER.

Speccation of Letters Patent No. 18,887, dated December 15, 1857.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MosEs OLEMENTS, of the city and county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Straw-Cutter; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and eX- act description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure l is a top view of sufficient of a straw cutter to show my improvement, having the upper and lower feed rolls broken off to show more clearly the other parts. Fig. 2 an end view. Fig. 3 a side elevation with red lines showing a central sectional view. F ig. 4 a side view of the stationary adjustable knife and sectional view of the same with the crowning bed-piece.

To enable other skilled in the art to make and use my improved straw cutter, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, A, are the side pieces of the frame; B, a cross girt; C, the crowning bed-piece, to which is attached the stationary knife D, adjustable by the means of the screws a, a, having a space between the crowning bed piece and stationary knife for the gravel and dirt to fall through, as shown clearly in Fig. l, also having a lip on the upper edge of the knife at the end where the spiraling knives first meet, and pass the stationary knife, so as to make sur@J that the edge of the one will always pass by the other without clashing.

E, is a revolving knife holder adjustable by means of the screws b, 6, bearing against the boxes of the same having two spiraling knives F, F, attached to the holder; and G, a pulley attached to the same.

H, is the lower feed roll on the end of which is pulley J, the upper feed roll K, with springs L, to press it down.

M, is a cord on pulleys G, and J, to connect the revolving knife-holder with the feed rolls.

lg, is a crank by which the whole is operate To operate it; after all the parts are put together as shown and described, and the straw laid so as to pass between the feed rolls whenever they are put in motion: take hold of the crank and turn the same, and the knifeholder, with spiraling knives, and feed rolls, will commence revolving, they all being connected, and the straw will begin to pass in between the rolls, and over the crowning bed-piece, also over the stationary knife (without any trouble, it the bed-piece being as high, or higher than the stationary knife) when one of the spiraling knives in its rotation will move over on to the straw, and press it down on to the stationary knife, and as the kinfe continues in its motion it necessarily follows that the straw between the two knives will be cut off, one passing by the other as near as possible and not touch; making as it does a shearing cut, with a top and bottom knife; and the bottom knife doing a proportional part of the work by having the bedpiece drooping toward the knife about the depth of the grinding bevel of the stationary knife, so that when the straw is pressed by the other knives it will spring down or a portion of it, and be cut by the bottom knife, and after it has been cut oif it will spring back ready to pass over the knife so as to be out again.

Having thus described my improved straw-cutter, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent for cutting vegetable substances is The combination of the revolving knife or knives and the' stationary adjustable knife, and crowning bed-piece with feed rolls all substantially as shown and described for the purposes as aboveset forth.

MOSES CLEMENTS.

Witnesses:

B. F. RosLYN, A. S. CLEMENT. 

